Weight Loss

yosemite

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After our vet visit in late July with Bijou and found that he had gained over 2 pounds in one year, I changed his dry food and fed more wet. In July he weighed in at 18.5 lbs. Yesterday he weighed 17.2 lbs. My big boy has lost 1.3 lbs since July.
I knew he had lost some weight because he looked slimmer so I was very happy to see this weight loss.

He has always been active and playful but he seems moreso now.
 
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yosemite

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Originally Posted by ConsumerKitty

That's wonderful! What is Bijou eating now?
Bijou and Mika share one 5.5 ounce of Merrick's wet and 1/2 cup per day of Orijen. I suspect my hubby is actually giving Bijou more wet than that since I often find a can of partially used wet in the refrigerator and I know I didn't put it there.
 

moggiegirl

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Congratulations!
If your cats are getting more wet food than you put out, maybe you could reduce the dry to 1/4 to 1/3 of a cup to share for even healthier results.

I've been feeding my cats wet food 3 times a day. My goal is to reduce dry food to such a small portion that it's only a treat. I've been reading a lot about the evils of dry food. And no, I would never tell anyone not to feed it. That's up to the individual cat owner. But based on what I've been learning I feel the need to protect my cats. My father's cat has been in the hospital for a couple days due to UTI issues. My dad and his wife have a dry food buffet out for their cats 24 hours a day. I've been reading Dr Pitcairn's Guide to Natural Care for Dogs and Cats and I've learned some more stuff. Cats that get UTI's usually have been fed a predominantly dry diet all their lives. Dr Pitcairn tells people to make a point, "If you want your cats to get bladder problems, just put down dry food and leave it out all the time." Most cats who get kidney failure later in life have had UTI issues when they were younger. There are consequences of prescription dry diets for UTI issues. They acidify the urine but mask the problem and leech calcium from the bones. Also it's easier to detect warning signs of kidney disease with a cat on a wet food diet than a dry food diet. A cat on a 100% canned food diet almost never drinks. Warning signs of kidney diseae are increased thirst. So if a cat that eats predominantly or 100% wet food drinks a lot of water that could be a sign of kidney disease. With a dry diet it's hard to tell because cats on predominantly or all dry food diets are forced to drink water. Dr Pitcairn also said that cats by nature eat infrequently and it's not natural for them to have access to food all the time as in the case of free feeding and free feeding increases the risk of UTIs. And that it's ok if a cat refuses his breakfast or dinner to wait until the next meal to feed him as cats who are fed twice a day are living in luxury.

So reducing dry food and increasing the wet food even further can be even more beneficial.
 

whuckleberry

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That's wonderful!!


I'm trying to trim Wally down a bit- he used to be 100% dry free-fed. Now we're doing measured dry and wet.

I love to hear kitty weight loss success stories!
 

tarasgirl06

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Congratulations to Bijou and I'm sure you are happy to know he'll be healthier and more active! I like big cats, but I know it's much better for them not to be overweight, and meezers, particularly, are known for their slimness. Good on ya for helping Bijou to success!
 

sharky

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WOW that is a great result....

YES I am sure the more wet would be great but .... the current is giving JUST RIGHT wt loss
 
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yosemite

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Thanks all for your kind comments. I'm very pleased myself and as you say Sharky, he lost the weight slowly which is the best way to do it.

Great info Moggiegirl. I wish more people would feed wet food but understand that sometimes there is a need for the dry food.
 

jcat

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Congratulations to Bijou! I've been trying to cut down on Jamie's dry food, but he just refuses to eat wet in the morning. He's lost a couple of grams, but I think that was because he was eating poorly for a couple of days.

He insisted on sleeping on top of me last night, and boy, is my arm killing me today!
 

kittymonsters

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wonderful news


It is amazing what wet food can do for a cat that needs to loose weight. It seems to help them lose at just the right rate, so Hepatic Lipidosis is not a constant worry.
 
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